<p>“Less obvious” meaning other than in-state public universities and community colleges (which are often fine choices). The idea is to see what kind of other choices a “good” student has if s/he comes from a family that is unlikely to get a lot of grant financial aid, but is unable or unwilling to pay the $50,000 to $60,000 per year list price that many private and out of state public schools charge.</p>
<p>Basically, this is a search of bachelor’s degree granting schools with tuition $20,000 per year or less (using DC as residence to be out of state as much as possible for public schools; total cost of attendance may be up to about $35,000, depending on non-tuition expenses) and 25th percentile SAT-R scores of 500 CR and 500 M (crude proxy for school having some appeal to “good” students; web page does not offer a 75th percentile screen that would be better for this purpose). It may not, however, be exhaustive, if some schools’ data is not in this search engine.</p>
<p>Any “hidden gems” here?</p>
<p>Appalachian State University
Brigham Young University-Provo
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
Christopher Newport University
College of the Ozarks
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
CUNY Hunter College
Flagler College-St Augustine
Georgia Southern University
Grove City College
Hampton University
Harding University
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Kennesaw State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
New Saint Andrews College
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
North Georgia College & State University
Rowan University
Salisbury University
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Southern Polytechnic State University
State University of New York at New Paltz
Stony Brook University
SUNY at Albany
SUNY at Binghamton
SUNY at Geneseo
SUNY College at Oneonta
SUNY College at Oswego
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Truman State University
University at Buffalo
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Huntsville
University of Arkansas
University of Maryland-Baltimore County
University of Minnesota-Morris
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
University of North Carolina at Asheville
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
University of North Florida
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
University of Puerto Rico-Cayey
University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
University of South Florida-Main Campus
Western Washington University</p>
<p>I think the SUNYs can be very good bargains for a certain type of student - one who really knows what s/he’s interested in studying, and who has done the work to find the one with the right program. There are high quality slices in those schools.</p>
<p>U Minn Twin Cities is a great bargain, amazing that it’s even on this list. Very attractively priced.</p>
<p>A well-educated friend of mine in Boston swears by Brigham Young University (Provo).</p>
<p>U Puerto Rico (either one) sounds very pleasant …</p>
<p>I don’t know how to define “gems”, but I know satisfied customers from both Hampton (an HBCU) and NC State at Raleigh…but my nephew took about six years to graduate from NC State.</p>
<p>St. Mary’s College of Maryland (Maryland’s public liberal arts honors college)
Average SATs: 617 (568-680) CR, 596 (550-650) M
OOS Tuition & Fees: $26,522 (2011-12)</p>
<p>Olin College of Engineering
Average SATs: 705 (670-750) CR, 745 (710-780) M
Tuition: $19,500 (a half-tuition scholarship is awarded to all admitted students)</p>
<p>Cooper Union
Average SATs: 657 (610-730) CR, 693 (610-780) M
Tuition: free (a full-tuition scholarship is awarded to all admitted students)</p>
<p>Maryland - Baltimore - 60 Mins. recently did a show about this school. I was impressed. If anyone is interested I recommend watching the show. The school is heavy on the sciences and research, with ample aid.</p>
<p>South Dakota School of Mines and the U of MN-Morris are both hidden gems, very good schools. I don’t know that I would call the U of MN Twin Cities a “hidden gem” as it’s an internationally known State Flagship University. Morris is in line with the top private schools in the area. The “stats” might look lower because it is a state school but it is very competitive. SD School of Mines has a near 100% placement rate for most of their subject areas. It is well connected with major employers for engineering and other STEM fields.</p>
<p>i would definitely say uab is a hidden gem. (also uah)… they are overshadowed by the 2 big schools in the state UA and Auburn.</p>
<p>UAB is a very different type of school, compared to those 2… definitely not a football, greek school. only about 6% greek. an urban campus rather than the “old college” feel.
ranked by princeton review as 3rd for racial interactions and 11th for student happiness. </p>
<p>only has about 10% out of state students. 11k undergrads,. Dorms are either suite style or full apartments. 2200 dorm capacity. many students also live in houses or apartments just off campus (dorms approx 5200/year…sharing and renting off campus can be even cheaper)</p>
<p>home of the highly ranked med school, only school in alabama system to offer biomedical engineering.
receives more research money than all other alabama schools combined…much generated by the med school, but this allows for incredible undergrad research opportunities.</p>
<p>strong honors colleges, that are cohesive small groups with specific theme, not just designated honors courses. </p>
<p>automatic merit scholarships, “full rides” (not food) for national merit, achievement and hispanic scholars.</p>
<p>I think that this was a very clever way to search for schools when one wants to stay below a certain amount of cost to the family. I just want to add that one can tweak it to up to 25,000, providing a much lower cost for dorms/dining plan and little/no ADDED FEES and perhaps the cost would be close to the list above (you would need to compare). Of course, merit and FA come into play, as do EFC and student stats.</p>
<p>We looked for schools that had lower sticker prices and offered merit aid. This was the reason that we let our children cast a wider net geographically. In our experience, and our kids were B+ kids with strong ECs and solid standardized test scores, merit aid and FA took a lot of schools off the table when the sticker price was very high. For our family, sticker price absolutely mattered. Also, if one is worried about travel costs, our hotel costs are the same whether our kids went 4 hours away, or 12 hours away. My younger son is pretty far from home. He flies home only twice per year (his choice). The cost of 2-3 flights per year from a major airport adds on hundreds, but NOT THOUSANDS of dollars in our case (it could add on a couple of thousand at some locations, also depending upon where your home is located, so something to consider). The point is that travel costs were not necessarily a deal breaker if the cost to us was lower in terms of the bottom line. I would check costs to fly home over Thanksgiving and winter breaks to get an idea about flight costs. I would also look into cost to get to and from an airport (adds up if the school is 2 hours from a major airport that flies into your city/region).</p>
<p>Parent56 has been singing praises for UAB on this site for a while.</p>
<p>BYU is a very good school that frequently gets overlooked due to its religious component.</p>
<p>I never realized how inexpensive Oklahoma University is. That is a good school though they used to have some problems with students getting their needed classes on time.</p>
<p>Good question about why SUNY Bing is not on the list. Only $13K for annual tuition.</p>
<p>Haystack–to me the choice would be obvious, my kids would be going to Truman. Is there something else holding you back from this decision? I guess I don’t get as caught up in the numbers games with the ACT scores, etc. but is Olaf really $15,000/year better than Truman, no. Now, if the difference were something like $2000/year, it would be a decision then.</p>